NEW YORK, NY.- Jenn Singer Gallery presents Michelle Rogers: Reclaiming, Rewilding, a solo exhibition of new oils on canvas by human rights and environmental activist and artist, Michelle Rogers.
Well-predicted rising waters connect each canvas in this new body of work from Michelle Rogers. First inspired by her experience of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Rogers’ application of thick impasto creates lush textures that add depth to her rural and urban landscapes in the midst of a dramatic reclamation by nature.
Depicted in locations ranging from Bangladesh to Texas, impressionistic figures – human and animal - navigate through this great flood of climate change. The figures seem startlingly calm, as if this was not the beginning, but somewhere in the midst of their new reality. Perhaps they are the survivors whose rewilding has already begun.
Nevertheless, one cannot help but notice the single empty boat in the series, floating alone. We are reminded of the unforgiving power of water.
Michelle Rogers is a human rights and environmental activist and artist. She grew up in Dundalk, Ireland on the border between the Northern and Southern regions of the country at the height of the Troubles.
In 1993, Amnesty International selected her to travel to Bosnia, an experience that resulted in a series of paintings about the darkest side of human nature. In 2002, Rogers was invited to show her painting 9-11 Memorial, a tribute to those lost on September 11, at the Irish Arts Center in New York City.
Other important exhibitions include Transformations 1,2,3 Tribute to Caravaggio at the Museum of Modern art in Guadalajara, Mexico and at the Chiostro del Bramante in Rome, and Troubles at Home, a series which examines the notion of patriotism in North America following the 9-11 attacks, exhibited at Track 16 gallery in Los Angeles.
Rogers' most recent environmental solo show, Tender Alchemy, was exhibited in New York City at Jenn Singer Gallery in September 2015. Other recent exhibitions include I am from where I am, exploring ideas of homeland at The Paul Kane gallery in Dublin, and On Earth As It Is In Heaven, an exhibition in Rome which included paintings focused on political and environmental problems, accompanied by a catalogue with an introduction by Italian art critic and historian Achille Bonito Oliva.
In 2016, Michelle Rogers was invited by the Secretary General of UN to attend and draw the signing of The Paris Climate Agreement. Later that year, Rogers was invited to an artists residency with The Earth Institute at Columbia University, where she began work on her large scale environmental work, Eco Venus, slated for exhibition at The Earth Institute in Fall 2018.
In 2017, during Venice Biennale 52, Michelle Rogers’ large-scale painting Lampedusa - exploring the plight and flight of immigrants of Italy - was shown in St. George Church in Venice, as well as at Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Immediately following, Tread Softly, Rogers’ midcareer retrospective, was held at Rathfarnham Castle in Ireland as organized by The Office of Public Works.
Michelle Rogers’ work is held in important international and Irish collections including the Office of Public Works, Bank of Ireland, Department of Foreign Affairs, President Mary Robinson, Film Director Terry George and Queens University Belfast.
Rogers is also known for her portraiture including an Irish postal stamp of her portrait of President O'Dalaigh. In 2012, Rogers was commissioned by the family of Prince Doria Pamphilj family to paint their portrait, which hangs in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome.
The artist currently divides her time between Rome, New York, and Dublin.
